Shaft-hanger.



PATENTED JULY 28, 1903. e W LEVALLEY SHAFT HANGER. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 18. 1903 50 MODEL.

I INVENTOR W 2? aaww 57 WITNESS I 7Z@74/.

its. 734,902

NiTEo STATES iatented July 28, loo-a.

ATENT SHAFT-HANGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 734,902, dated July 28, 1903:; YApplioation filed February 18, 1903. Serial No. 143,958. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it'known that I, CHRISTOPHER W. LE- VALLEY,-acitizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Shaft-Hanger, of

. which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the hangers or supports for line-shafting, and has for its ob ject to produce sucha hanger having great strength, simplicity of construction, and the capacity for a wide range of adjustment.

Other featuresof advantage incident to my invention will be hereinafter referred to.

In the accompanying drawings I have represented my invention as applied to a ceiling r overhead-shaft-hanger, though it is apparent that bysimply inverting the parts shown .a floor support or bracket is produced,so that sal practice to construct or form shaft hangshafting runs is so irregular that the screw ers or supports of cast-iron. This adds unnecessarily to the weight of the hanger and produces a hanger that is lacking in strength and by reason of its integral construction cannot be easily packed for shipment. In order to overcome all of these defects incident to the cast-iron hangers, I construct my hanger of steel, preferably using bar-steel for the several parts.

The shaft-hanger shown in the drawings consists of two depending side members and two cross members, between which parts the shaft is arranged, the adjusting devices for bringing the shaft into line being mounted in the cross members. It often happens that the ceiling adjacent to which the 1 line of adjusting devicescarried by the cross-members of the hanger do not have sufficient range to bring the shaft-bearings into proper line, in which case it is necessary to resort to united thereto by the bolts 10.

hangers of difierent sizes. I make the side members, which in the arrangement shown are the depending members of the hanger, extensible, thus obtaining a coarse adjustment of the hanger, leaving to the screw adjusting devices the fine adjustment necessary to bring the shaft-bearings into perfect alinement.

Referring to the drawings, 1 2 designate two bars of metal, preferably of steel, which, together with the clamping-bolts and nuts 12 that unite them, constitute the side members of the hanger. The bars 1 2 are substantially duplicates of .each other, one end of each bar being bent at an angle,preferably an angle a little greater than a right angle, to the main or body portion. The bent or outturned portions 13 of the bars 1 constitute the feetby which the hanger is secured to the ceiling or other support. The straight portions of the bars are perforated for the passage of the connecting-bolts 12, the boltholes being sufliciently numerous and near enough together to permit a considerable range of adjustment by more or less overlapping the straight ends of the bars and bringjing one or another of the sets of bolt-holes into alinement. By making the straight portions of the bars 1 2 each twelve inches in length' and providing each bar with seven bolt-holes an inch apart I am enabled to produce a hanger which may be adjusted six inches-that is to say, so adjusted that it will support a shaft ten inches from the ceiling or sixteen inches therefrom or at any intel-mediate distance. The shaft A is supported in bearings B, which may be of any usual or preferred construction, and combined with these bearings are the screw adjusting devices 5 5, which may likewise be of any usual or preferred construction. These adjusting devices are supported in the crossbars 3 and 4 of the hanger. The cross-bar 3 consists of a bar of steel that is supported upon the inturned portions 14 of the hangerbars 2 2, to whichit is connected by the bolts 11. The upper adjusting devices are supported upon another cross-bar 4, arrangedbetween the side members of the hanger and In order to out necessitating the removal of the entire hanger.

The operation of my invention is apparent. The approximate distance of the shaft from the ceiling or other support is first noted, and theparts 1 and 2 of the side members are then connected, so as to produce a hanger of approximately the proper height. The crossbar 4 is then secured in place and the hanger put in position. After the shaft has been inserted into the space between the side and cross members of the hanger the opening between the inturned lower ends of the hangers may be closed and the bearings applied to the shaft. The final adjustment to bring the shaft and its bearings into perfect alinement is effected by the screw devices 5 5 in the usual manner.

It will be seen that my hangeris composed of parts of the simplest construction and yet all the parts possessing great strength, as the various bars employed may be formed of the best of steel. Another advantage besides those of strength and range of adjustment obtainable is incident to the fact that the several parts which constitute the hanger may be separated one from the other and packed in a very small space. This item is of great advantage in shipping the hangers.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. In an adjustable shaft-hanger, the combination of the extensible side supporting members between which the shaft is arranged, each side member being formed of two bars having their inner ends overlapping, one of the side bars serving as the means by which the hanger is connected with its support and the other being adjustable, and connecting and clamping means for holding the side bars together in the positions to which they may be adjusted, and the fine adjusting devices by which the shaft is alined supported by the adjustable portions of'the said extensible side supports, substantially as set forth.

2. In an adjustable shaft-hanger, the combination of the side supporting members extensible as to their length, each formed of two bars arranged with their inner ends overlapping and having means for securing togetherthe said bars, one of the said bars serving as the means for connecting the hanger with its support and the other being adjustable relative thereto, the cross. members arranged between the adjustable portions of the side supporting members, and the fine adjusting device for alining the shaft carried by the said cross members, substantially as set forth.

3. An adjustable shaft-hanger having the side supporting members extensible as to their length, the adjustable portion of each supporting member having an inturned end 14, and the cross member carried by the said inturned ends 14, by which is supported a portion of the shaft-bearing, substantiallyas set forth.

4:. Inashaft-hanger, the combination of the side supporting members extensible as to their length, the outer adjustable part of each side support being inturned, said inturned ends being separated bya space sufficient to permit the passage of the shaft to be supported, a cross member supported by the said inturned ends of the side supports of the hanger, by which is supported part of the shaft-bearing, and another cross member carrying another part of the shaft-bearing arranged between the supporting members of the hanger and disposed on the side of the shaft opposite the first-named cross member, substantially as set forth.

5. In ashaft-hanger, the combination of the side supporting members each formed of two bars, 1, 2, the bars being perforated and united by bolts as described, whereby the supporting members are extensible, the crossbars, 3, 4, between the adjustable parts of the supporting side members, and the fine adjusting devices for alining the shaft supported by the cross-bars 3 and 4, substantially as set forth.

6. A shaft-hanger having side supporting members, each formed of two bars of metal that are substantially duplicates of each other, each bar having one end bent at an angle to the main part thereof, and the main straight portions of the bars being bolted together, cross members formed of metal bars arranged between and connected with the side members, whereby there is formed an inclosed space between the said parts through which the shaft is adapted to pass, the said parts of the hanger being separable one from the other, and the bearings for the shaft arranged in the said inclosed space between the shaft -hanger members, substantially as set forth. I

7. A shaft-hanger comprising two similar and separate side members between which the shaft to be supported is arranged, each side member being formed with a foot portion for attachment to a support and an inclined depending portion having an inturned end, to the inturned ends of the two side members of the hanger being situated a distance apart sufficient to permit the passage between them of the shaft, and a cross member for the shaft- IIO gether, and means for supporting the shaft carried by the said side members, substan- IO tially as set forth.

CHRISTOPHER W. LEVALLEY.

Witnesses:

W. O. SARGENT, V. I. KLOFANDA. 

